Is Blockbuster Bombing?

It seems the final script for Blockbuster Video is being written. The once powerful Video rental chain that put a lot much cooler video chains out of business is not faring well against downloads and Netflix. A recent work trip took me to the good ol’ USA and I couldn’t help but notice a lot of “Going out of Business” signs in Blockbuster windows. Things seem a bit better in Canada, but chief competitor Netflix will soon be setting up virtual shop up North very soon.    

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/netflix-will-cross-border-to-canada-this-year/article1644548/ 

I can’t say Blockbuster doesn’t deserve it. For horror fans, they’ve always sorta sucked. All the blockbusters near me don’t even have a proper Horror section (they’ve lumped everything in Action, Drama, or Comedy). I’m pretty sure they don’t even carry films made before 2005. Let’s also not forget the serious lack of pornography (wimps). A lot of kick ass video stores were done in by the Blockbuster chain. These were the Mom n’ Pop shops that featured cool horror sections (often times in separate rooms done up to look like torture chambers and such) that featured obscure titles from long dead companies such Vestron and Prism.  

For Horror fans of the 50’s and 60’s, it was the Drive in that provided some the best memories. In the 70’s and early 80’s, it was the Grind House. For me, in the late 80’s, it was the Video Store. VHS was the format that introduced me to the films of Lucio Fulci, Texas Chainsaw Masscare, Dawn of The Dead, Evil Dead, and a whole lot of other movies with “dead” in the title. Blockbuster had a decent selection of horror titles in the early days, but they eventually abandoned anything that was too obscure.  

They’ve also had some weird policies. There “No late fees” was a disaster that only lead to really pissing people off when they (very quietly) brought them back. It’s not like people don’t rent movies anymore. Blockbuster still seems packed on the weekends, but they clearly aren’t renting like they used too, and the chain just doesn’t seem to know how to adapt.  

On the bright side, they are selling a lot of previously viewed movies for cheap, even Blu Ray. Actually, I could write a whole other blog on how over priced Blu Ray movies are right now and how that hurts a new format trying to compete with free illegal down loads, but I’ve already rambled enough.

My Favorite 100 (plus) Horror Movies of All Time

Okay, a little explaining about these lists. These represent my personal favorite horror movies. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best (although some I’d certainly argue are, especially the top 10) but the ones that I get the most enjoyment watching. I know Friday the 13th Part IV is not a better movie than Halloween; I just have a better time watching it. Same thing with Frankenstein meets the Wolf man. I know that FMTWM is not the best of the Universal Horror Classics, but it’s the one I enjoy the most. There are a lot of great movies not on this list for one reason or another, usually it has to do with when I saw them, or maybe I just totally forgot about them and I’ll kick myself (hard and in the nuts) when I realize it.

Another thing I want to mention; I didn’t want this list to have too many sequels, so I limited it to only 3 films from a series. I just figure that if you know I liked Friday the 13 Part IV, then I probably liked Part VI as well.

As you can see, my top 100 is actually broken up in to 2 list; I have a top 80 all time faves, and a top 20 list of more recent flicks (late 90’s-ish and beyond). I made the second list ‘cause I didn’t know where to put the more recent flicks on the all time list just yet. You’ll have to wait until I’ve seen my last horror movie and I’m on my death bed before you get the definitive list. And really, From 30-100 could easily change places.

Please feel free to make comments and post your own (no doubt inferior) list!

One last thing; the top three are basically tied and for my all time favorite. On any given day I could call any of the top three my all time fave.

One more thing: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

My Top 80 All time Favorite Horror Movies:

1. Evil Dead
2. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
4. The Wicker Man (1973)
5. The Thing
6. Black Christmas (1974)
7. Psycho
8. The Fly (1986)
9. Rosemary’s Baby
10. Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man
11. Friday the 13 Part IV: The Final Chapter
12. Army of Darkness
13. Creepshow
14. Zombie
15. Near Dark
16. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
17. The Omen (1976)
18. Evil Dead II
19. The Wolf Man (1941)
20. The Abominable Dr Phibes
21. A Nightmare on Elm Street III: The Dream Warriors
22. The Lost Boys
23. Halloween (1978)
24. The Birds
25. The Exorcist
26. JAWS
27. The Hills have Eyes (1977)
28. Dracula (1931)
29. Phantasm II
30. Horror of Dracula
31. The Hitcher
32. The Fog (1980)
33. ALIEN
34. Frankenstein (1931)
35. The Howling
36. The Creature from the Black Lagoon
37. The Omega Man
38. An American Werewolf in London
39. House
40. Day of the Dead (1985)
41. The Fly (1958)
42. Halloween IV: the reurn of Michael Myers
43. Friday the 13th
44. A Nightmare on Elm Street
45. I spit on your Grave
46. Bride of Frankenstein
47. Silver Bullit
48. Salem’s Lot
49. Poltergeist
50. Cannibal Ferox
51. Death Dream
52. My Bloody Valentine
53. Deranged
54. Tales from the Crypt
55. Rabid
56. The Dead Zone
57. Carrie
58. Terror of Frankenstein
59. Pet Semetary
60. House of Wax (1953)
61. Fright Night
62. Prison (Seldom seen 80’s haunted prison flick, sadly not available on DVD)
63. Phantasm
64. Nosferatu (1922)
65. Misery
66. Child’s Play
67. Texas chainsaw Massacre Part II
68. The Crazies
69. Night of the Living Dead (1990)
70. American Psycho
71. Return of the Living Dead
72. Plague of the Zombies
73. Last House on the Left
74. Pumpkinhead
75. Phantom of the Opera (1925)
76. Dolls
77. Re-Animator
78. Satanic Rites of Dracula
79. Hellraiser
80. The Blob (1988)

My Top 20 soon to be added to my all time Favorite Horror Movies

1. Shaun of the Dead
2. Ginger Snaps
3. Session 9
4. Sixth Sense
5. Pan’s Labrynth
6. SE7EN
7. Brotherhood of the Wolf
8. House of 1000 Corpses
9. Grindhouse
10. Bubba Ho-Tep
11. Scream
12. Dog Soldiers
13. From Dusk till Dawn
14. 28 days later
15. Devil’s Rejects
16. High Tension
17. Bubba Ho Tep
18. The Descent
19. The Devil’s Backbone
20. The Blair Witch Project

*Special bonus list enrties: The Ruins, Mulberry Street, and The Strangers. Probably my three fave horror films of the last year or so.

**Extra Special Bonus list: Movies (in no particular order) that either almost made the cut or that I’d forgotten about until just now: Christine, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Cannibal Apocalypse, The Blob (1988), Cabin Fever, Horror rises from the Tomb, Vault of Terror, House that dripped Blood, House on Haunted Hill, Hostel, SAW, Creepshow II, Ringu, The Frighteners, Dawn of the Dead (2004), Slither, Pieces, Spider Baby and about 100 other flicks that I’ll remember later and hate myself for not including on one of the above lists.

Happy B-Day Sam Raimi

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to the one and only Sam Raimi. The Evil Dead director and all around Geek Idol turns 49 today.  

Not only did Raimi introduce the world to Deadites and Bruce Campbell, he also crafted two of the best Superhero films of all time (Spider-Man I & II). 

If your looking for even more Raimi goodness, check out the excellent thriller A Simple Plan and the underrated The Gift.

Pseudo Review – Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

After witnessing the brutal murder of his entire family (by a monster no less) young Jack Brooks grows up to be a bitter rageaholic. Luckily, an all out demon attack gives him a great outlet for his anger management issues. This leads to all sorts of spilled monster guts in the Canuck Horror flick Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer.

I wanted to like Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer a lot more than I did. I’m not Saying it was a bad movie or anything, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I was just so giddy at the thought of some old school latex monster fighting that I couldn’t help but be a little let down when I saw it. The main issue I have with the film is the pacing. There are scenes that just seem “off” some how and really drag. In fact, it’s not until the last 20 minutes or so that we finally get some hot guy on monster action. With that said, you have to respect a low budget monster movie that goes for old school effects over CG. Even with a limited budget, the monster effects all look great. The creatures run the gauntlet of Evil Dead like Deadites to Lords of the Ring style Ogres.

On the acting front, Trevor Matthews does a great job channeling his inner Ash as our titular hero. Its clear Jack has anger issues, but Matthews makes him such a likeable everyman that you can’t help but cheer for him. It also features modern day horror legend Robert Englund in a role that’s much bigger than advertised. For some reason I thought he only had a cameo but he’s actually one of the main characters.

JB: MS is a lot like a Superhero movie in that it has to cover a lot of back story in order to explain the hero’s origin and still squeeze in the actual conflict. I think Jack’s future Monster Slaying will be a lot more streamlined now that the origin is out of the way (think Spider-Man II or The Dark Knight as the ultimate examples of this).

With obvious nods to films like Night of the Demons and Evil Dead (actually, more like Evil Dead II) Jack Brooks Monster:  Slayer is a lot of fun for 80’s monster kids. Not perfect by any means, I’m still intrigued to see what Beasties Jack battles next as I’m pretty sure Jack will be back.

My First Time

First movie I…

…saw in theatres: Star Wars (I was 3)
…saw on video: Conan the Barbarian
…picked out at a video store: Zombie
…saw in 3-D: JAWS 3-D
…owned on VHS: Evil Dead
…owned on DVD: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

Other Firsts:

-First Friday the 13th movie I saw: Friday the 13th Part III.

-First Friday the 13th movie I saw theatrically: Well, I saw Part V at the drive-in, but Part VI was the first I saw at an actual theatre.

-First thing that really scared me: When Big Foot was on the The Six Million Dollar Man.

-First TV show(s) I watched religiously: Six Million dollar Man and Battlestar Galactica (70’s version).

-First action figure: Not sure, but I assume it was Star Wars or Steve Austin (the Bionic one, not the stone cold one).

-First Cartoon I watched religiously: The Super Friends.

-1st Evil Dead DVD I bought: Elite Special Edition.

-2nd Evil Dead DVD I bought: Anchor Bay Book of the Dead Edition.

-3rd Evil Dead DVD I bought: Elite Special Edition again (don’t ask).

-4th Evil Dead DVD I bought: Anchor Bay Ultimate Edition.

-Last Evil Dead DVD I ever buy damn it: Anchor Bay Ultimate Edition.

-First “Horror movie” action figure I ever bought: Remco’s Universal Monsters Wolf Man (Glow in the dark version). Technically my Mom bought it for me.

-First Horror movie I saw: I have no idea, but it clearly scarred me for life!